James 1:26-2:13 – The Religious and Their Religion

If anyone thinks he is religious…

James 1:26a

Religion has often gotten a bad reputation, and it is sometimes well-deserved given the frequent hypocrisy riddling the headlines. But this is nothing new. The world has long been full of people who call themselves religious but who, upon closer inspection, reek of unchanged and sinful behaviors.

The ancient Israelites were very religious. Their lives revolved around the temple and its sacrificial system, the annual festivals, and frequent holy days. From the outside they appeared to be quite religious, but if you take a look at their history you will find that Israel was anything but religious; I imagine that if an accurate film were made of the history of Israel, it would probably receive the NC-17 rating. And, even after the exile and their return to Jerusalem, it didn’t take long for the highly religious leaders to show their true colors. By the time Jesus arrived on the scene, the Jewish leaders were highly religious but their lives did not mirror what they claimed to believe. Even Jesus said of them, “The scribes and Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the words they do. For they preach, but do not practice” (Matt 23:3). With this in mind, James writes, “If anyone thinks he is a follower of God…”

…and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

James 1:26b-27

If we claim to believe in God but don’t speak kindly and without anger, then our belief and all the religious observances we keep are worthless. In these few sentences, James uses the word “religious” as both an adjective and a noun. As an adjective, (“If anyone thinks he is religious”), James describes our stated set of beliefs; as a noun, (“This person’s religion is worthless”), he describes all that we do in front of others so they see that we are believers.

But believers don’t speak harshly toward others. Believers don’t speak quickly and allow their anger to rise up. Rather, believers are quick to listen to God and slow to speak to man. Even if we go to church, preach the word, write wonderful books about God and his ways, but our speech flows from our sinful anger, not out of a mind immersed in God’s implanted word, then everything new do is worthless. Our frequent inclination to say things we regret is, for James, an indication that our belief is worthless. But James doesn’t end his description of true religion at the tongue.

If you have read your Old Testament you will know that the failure of the Israelites came in two major categories. First, they did not keep themselves unstained from the world around them. Once they moved into the Promised Land they quickly co-opted the many gods of the former inhabitants of Canaan. They built high places for idolatry and under the reign of Manasseh even built altars to foreign gods in the temple itself.

Secondly, Israel’s treatment of those who couldn’t take care of themselves was, at best, poor. A quick survey of the books of the prophets, (Isaiah 1, 3, 5, 9, 10, 16, 25, 26, 29, 32, 35, 41, 42, 58, 61, as well as Amos, Micah, Zechariah, and Malachi), tells us of Israel’s ill-treatment of the fatherless, the widow, and the sojourner. Not only did Israel invite the stain of foreign gods upon themselves, but they also neglected the humble and the weak.

Jesus was once asked about the most important commandment. His reply was, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31). Jesus stated that both commands — loving God and loving others — were important, and in saying this he not only affirmed the Ten Commandments but the entirety of the Mosaic Law.

The recipients of James would have known Israel’s history and the ways in which they had failed. And so James writes that if they wish to be truly religious — if they wish to show that they truly love God — then they must love others and they must keep themselves unstained by the world around them. But that isn’t all. James wants to make sure they clearly understand what it means to love others, so he writes,

My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

James 2:1-4

It is easy to love our friends, those most like us, and the popular people but it’s not so easy to love our enemies, those really strange people we don’t understand, and the outcast. For instance, if you walked into the doctor’s office and only two chairs were remaining — one chair next to a well-dressed person of your race, looking and smelling as though they have freshly showered, and one chair next to a smelly foreigner who looks as though they have been living in a van down by the river — which chair do you pick? You might think that an unfair question, but that’s what James is talking about. We are partial to people like us who seem to have it all together. We love our friends, the people we understand, and the popular people, but for others not in one of those categories we don’t have much love to offer.

But true religion — the real expression of our belief in God and that Jesus came to save us — is that we love others regardless of whether they easily fit into our world. They might look funny or smell bad but we are to love them anyway. Every person we will ever meet — past, present, future — is created in the image of God. Rich, poor, ugly, handsome, social outcast, social bastion, aromatically pleasing, or not; all are image-bearers of God. You must also forget about the distinction some people try to make between saved and unsaved; that doesn’t change the fact that each and every person is an image-bearer of God — that is what it means to be human. And if we are truly religious — if we truly believe in God — then we must love everyone without partiality; it’s just that simple.

But James doesn’t leave it there. He reminds the early Jewish believers that they were not chosen because of their riches. And thus, in like manner, they should not use riches and worldly position to show partiality. He writes,

Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?

James 2:5-7

The Israelites were not chosen because they were rich or wise or perfect. They were chosen in their poverty, their foolishness, and their imperfection because God wanted to show his love to the world through the poor and the outcast. But they didn’t act like God when they inherited the Promised Land. After they became rich they betrayed their history and dishonored the poor. In so doing, they violated the second part of the greatest commandment; they did not love their neighbors.

If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

James 2:8-11

When we show partiality we violate what James calls the royal law and become no different than those who kill, commit adultery, or violate any of the other commandments. Loving our neighbor means that we love them for who they are and not what they do. I know this goes against a commonly held belief that “It’s not who you are underneath, it’s what you do that defines you” (Batman), but that sort of thinking is a falsehood from the very pit of hell. Who we are underneath is the defining characteristic for each one of us; no matter how sinful, we are still image-bearers of God. We might tarnish that image by our actions, but our identity as an image-bearer of God is unchangeable.

Think about this in another way. If our true identity and worth are based upon what we did, then wouldn’t there be a good reason to show partiality? I mean, who is better?
…the guy who cures cancer or the addict living under the bridge?
…Billy Graham or Anton LeVay?
…Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates or billionaire philander Jeffrey Epstein?
…Patrick Mahones or Ray Finkle?

In choosing one or the other we are saying there is something inherently better about one person than another; we are not looking at people as image-bearers of God. In James’ words, we are showing partiality and thereby are sinning.

So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

James 2:12-13

To be a doer of the law and not just a hearer means that we speak and act as though we ourselves were subject to judgment. This means that we love others as we ourselves have been loved. It means we forgive others as we ourselves have been forgiven. It means we show mercy instead of judgment. True religion recognizes that each and every one of us is in the same boat; we are image-bearers of God who have tarnished our images. We all need love, forgiveness, and mercy.

We might be living away from our true home, persecuted, humbled by the worldly powers around us, battling temptations, imperfectly seeking God’s wisdom, and inclined to speak first and listen later, but so is the other guy. This is why James tells us that if we are truly a believer in God then we will impartially love, forgive, and show mercy. In this way, we worship God and properly fulfill the royal law, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”